Paul Arden | Monday, 3 September 2018
Launching today is the Sexyloops Essential Level Challenge, the exam and notes are downloadable as PDF documents at the bottom of this page. The purpose of this test is to test you as a flycaster and to give you flycasting challenges that will undoubtedly improve your fishing casting. Instructors and Casting Clubs can test this exam; it's best over water but it's also at their discretion. Certainly I go fishing in water, water has different properties to grass, and so you would be well advised to learn these casts over water as much as possible!
Even if you don't take the exam I'm sure that you will find the tasks very useful for structured practise sessions. Think of it as a game - it's very easy to identify what you can and cannot do. If you can perform the casts 90% of the time then you are probably ready to take the test, where you only have to make the casts work 1/3 of the time. Testing environment is aways harder than a practise environment.
Later this week I will shoot some video of every cast which will help in making the test and expectations clearer. And soon after this we will have a nice certificate that you can download and hang on your wall. We will also have a hall of fame where you can see you name in lights.
I'm working on level 2, but it will be a few months before we get this one out. These things need testing on real people to make sure that the level is where it's intended. I've opened up the fly line classes a little to accommodate a wider variety of lines. I also narrowed the Bow and Arrow casting target to make this task more interesting.
If you are a club or an instructor and you wish to set some goals for your students/members then let me know and feel free to go for it. We are not charging any administration fees. If I have to go around and test then I will charge my hourly/daily rate but it's entirely up to you how you operate the test. This is about setting clear goals for students. In some ways it may even transform what you teach a little, because now you have a syllabus with a proper measurable set of goals at the end.
The great thing about this test is that since it completely measurable, ie the fly either goes in the hoop or it doesn't, then it can be administered by someone who cannot perform the test him or herself. After all, the judges in fly casting cannot throw 130ft either, but they can all measure someone who does! This may not be very important at this level, because with a little practise all of these tasks can be performed and taught by a CCI. Later on in the program we will certainly have a level that will stretch even Elite level fly casters.
So while the program gives someone with a clear interest in fly casting a set of attainable fly casting performance goals - that have nothing to do with teaching, but instead everything to do with fishing - we will also put in place a clear ladder that can take the interested fly caster to the Elite level of fly casting performance.
How far they choose to climb is entirely up to them, but this first set is a clear way to improve one's fishing casting. It is a challenge; it will take some work, and consequently it will be very rewarding to pass.
Here is the PFD of the Challenge.
Here is the PDF of the Marking Portion only.
Or easier to find and remember with www.sexyloops.com/flycast/challenge/
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Paul
Incidentally ALL of these casts can be found in the Sexyloops Video Manual 